Art x Love was engaged by the City of Fairlawn to develop a public art solution for the heavily vandalized tunnel corridor of the historic Rosemont Golf Course which stretches underneath North Cleveland Massillon Road. The City of Fairlawn is currently transforming this area into a family-friendly and educational nature reserve, and we are delighted to make art a key component of that experience.
Mac toured the site and discussed a range of ideas for the area including murals, sculpture, anti-graffiti coatings, lighting, and way-finding. The initial urgent ask was to create a mural solution for the interior of the tunnel, but the team pivoted from that idea since adding lighting to the tunnel would like damage the mural surface. Instead, the city City of fairlawn’s team painted the interior of the tunnel with a premium masonry primer for future anti-graffiti coating.
With the tunnel primed and the walls power-washed, Mac developed a range of mural concepts for the westbound and eastbound abutments of the tunnel. Mural concepts explored themes of nature, local history, vibrant abstracts, way-finding patterns, and uplifting expressions. We discussed the plans for Rosemont Reserve with Kimley-Horn, the landscape architect, and reviewed and refined the mural concepts. This included modifying the colors to align with the City of Fairlawn’s PMS colors for print and digital media.
Together, we settled on a creative vision that focussed on the natural transformation into Rosemont Preserve while also honoring the historic Rosemont Golf Club. That vision is part of an integrated plan that includes signature artwork throughout the area, including sculpture and additional murals. With construction underway, Rosemont Preserve is projected to be complete and open to the public in the fall of 2027. But with active and familiar trails throughout the grounds for residents, the mural certainly serves as a welcome site for all.
The primary focus of the westbound mural is the iconic Rosemont Preserve logo, elevated above the water line and framed within a series of vibrant oval and reflected shapes. Lilly pads float at the water’s edge with a range of wetland grasses and rushes extending upwards from the foreground. The sun/moon was intentionally painted to reflect day or night, and gives rise to a sweeping geometric pattern that extends over the tunnel to the wetland scene on the other side.
The left wall is the last part of the mural that people see when exiting the tunnel heading southeast. Mac designed this wall to highlight the natural landscape and the role the Ohio River Basin and Watershed play in Fairlawn’s unique ecosystem, including Glacier’s Edge Stream and the local wetlands. The colorful geometric shapes in this mural serve as both windows and way-finding devices, complementing the natural flow of traffic as people explore and learn more about the the area.
The eastbound mural wall depicts the historic Rosemont Golf Course & Country Club, which was first established in 1920 as the Montrose Club. The club was started by a group of seven Jewish families who were excluded from becoming members of Portage Country Club and Fairlawn Country Club. The original 9-hole course design was laid out by renowned architect, Tom Bendelow. The course was later expanded to 18 holes in the 1960’s by regional architect, Larry Packard. Mac painted their silhouettes in one of the windows of the Country Club – can you find them?
The Rosemont Country Club closed in January 2020. In subsequent years, portions of the property were used for housing and mixed-use development, and the City of Fairlawn acquired 66 acres of the land. That land is being transformed into a $7MM passive-use nature reserve and stormwater mitigation project known as Rosemont Preserve. This area will mitigate water runoff issues from the Montrose shopping district and improve water quality along the Shocalog Creek watershed.
Rosemont Preserve includes the construction of 10 new wetlands, restoration of 7.25 acres of wetland habitat, and creation of an 8.5 acre-feet of floodplain storage. The project is also remediating a century of piping, damming, and ditching to restore Shocalog Run with more than 4,000 native plantings. Miles of walking trails, boardwalks, scenic overlooks, bridges, and public artwork will offer numerous amenities and reasons to explore. This includes a redesign of Bicentennial Park as the new trailhead, complete with a small concert and ampitheater.
The City of Fairlawn is targeting December 2027 for completion of the Rosemont Preserve. Mac had a blast bringing this tunnel corridor to life, and we look forward to exploring the preserve, activating more areas, and collaborating with other artists on new projects in the future.
